


Blood in the Stars

by Masqueradewitch



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements, Supernatural Elements, Trip/T'Pol if you squint, Vampires, away mission, but nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:04:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masqueradewitch/pseuds/Masqueradewitch
Summary: An old warp signature shows up on a planet where it shouldn't be.  The crew should know by now that milk runs are anything but.  This time, a secret that has been hidden on Earth for as long as human history is revealed, and Lt. Reed's temporary replacement goes on the Hunt.





	Blood in the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in eight hours one day and decided to post it as a one shot. This is completely unbetaed and most likely will not be added to. I just wanted to try and put a vampire on the Enterprise. There are some non-con/dub-con elements as well as violence, but it's not very explicit except for how the main character describes what she did to the rapists. I don't think it is too bad, but You Mileage May Vary so please be careful.

“Lt. Renault.” Subcommander T'Pol watched as the red-haired lieutenant finished the task in her hand and turned her attention to the Enterprise's First Officer. T'Pol was aware that several members of the crew found Lt. Renault unsettling, though none of them could accurately explain the feeling and she never gave anyone clear cause to complain.  
“Yes, Subcommander?” she replied, the hint of an accent in her voice the Vulcan woman could not quite place.  
“You have degrees in history and anthropology. You have read the information on the planet we are orbiting?” T'Pol asked.  
“An old signal from the planet's surface, sensor indications of a warp core but the planet itself is pre-industrial. Perhaps a shuttle crashed?” Lt. Renault suggested as she stored the phasers she had been calibrating. T'Pol held out a datapad.  
“The Captain would like you to join us on the away mission. Lt. Reed has recommended you to replace him while he is recovering in Sickbay.”  
“ tried to warn him that drone wasn't ready. Honestly I think Dr. Phlox is letting the wound heal slowly to keep him in one place for more than ten minutes,” Lt. Renault chuckled as she rose to her feet. The redhead was slightly taller than T'Pol and as she passed a faint scent crossed the Vulcan's sensitive nose.  
“I am unfamiliar with that scent. It is pleasant,” T'Pol said in surprise.  
“Orange and ginger. A cream I use to keep the skin on my hands from drying out. Citrus oils have been used in cleansers on Earth for thousands of years. Many humans associate the smell of citrus with clean areas because of this.”  
“I am Vulcan. We do not have citrus fruits on our planet.”  
“Ask Chef if he has any. You may enjoy the taste. I'll prepare for the mission,” Lt. Renault headed out the door, singing softly in a language the Vulcan did not recognize.  
**  
Several hours later the away team consisting of Captain Archer, Subcommander T'Pol, Lt. Renault, and Commander Tucker arrived on the planet's surface.  
“Scans showed a settlement not far away, I'll scout ahead, see if there is any important information we need before we go looking for our lost shuttle,” Lt. Renault said. After studying the sensor readings the lieutenant had determined the society was closer to Earth in the Middle Ages. Thus the away team were dressed in tunics and breeches that blended in with the forest around them. Tucker pulled a cloth bag from the shuttle and opened it to reveal a bow and quiver along with a longsword and an axe. Leaning against the wall of the shuttle was a quarterstaff with a leather grip in the center and metal studs on the ends.  
“I wonder where Abby got these?” Archer mused.  
“Pretty sure most of this is the real deal. That sword's perfectly balanced, and it's got signs of use,” Tucker replied, pointing to the weathered scratches on the blade in question.  
“I think you're right, and I'm fairly sure that axe is not meant for cutting wood,” Archer answered as he hefted the axe.  
“Lt. Renault brought weapons that should fit in with this society. It is fortunate they were available.” T'Pol noted.  
“Maman says I am paranoid, but Papa just says I'm prepared.” The trio spun around as Lt. Renault melted from the growing shadows.  
“Jeez! Make a little noise next time!” Tucker scolded.  
“Sorry, it's habit. Well, the good news is the translators work. Bad news is the town's on edge. They likely won’t notice a few more travellers passing through but I saw a notice at the inn. People have gone missing, mostly young men and women. The people are nervous, so we shouldn't linger.”  
“No chance it's just kids eloping?” Tucker asked. Abby shook her head, the tight braid she had bound her hair in swinging behind her.  
“Young lovers running off don't leave a town looking over their shoulders as the sun goes down. Besides the nearest settlement is five days travel and the missing take nothing with them.”  
“In light of the disappearances we should seek shelter for the night.” T'Pol suggested. Abby picked up the bow and quiver.  
“T'Pol, take the staff, Captain the sword, Trip the axe. I'll bring down some game to trade for a night at the inn.” she directed, fading into the shadows. By the time the trio had collected their weapons as well as the roughspun bags Abby had provided the redhead had returned with several dead birds tied together by their feet. As they neared the town Abby pressed something into T'Pol's hand.  
“If anyone asks, you're a cleric of Surak. They'll assume it's a god from a distant shore and leave you be. Or so I hope,” Abby murmured. T'Pol looked down to see and IDIC on a woven cord.  
“You believe posing as a cleric will gain some sort of respect?” T”Pol asked as she slid the pendant around her neck. Abby shrugged, shifting her catch from one hand to the other.  
“If they aren't fanatics.”  
**  
True to Abby's predictions, the townsfolk kept a wary eye on them but went about their business. At the inn, Abby bartered for a pair of rooms while Archer and Tucker eyed the men and women in the common area. Most were ignoring them but one old woman zeroed in on the symbol around T'Pol's neck. She moved forward, holding up a battered coin.  
“Will you pray for my Mirra? Pray she comes home?” the old woman begged, near tears. T'Pol took a steadying breath and closed the woman's fingers around the coin.  
“Keep your money. I will offer what prayers I can for your Mirra's safe return,” she said calmly. The old woman stifled a sob, kissing T'Pol's fingers before turning away. Abby nudged the group up the stairs and into the rooms. Archer and Tucker ducked into the room where Abby had guided T'Pol to sit on the bed.  
“These people have a very strong telepathic ability. When I held the woman's hand her despair at her daughter's loss overwhelmed my shields. The local religious leaders do nothing so she hoped a stranger's gods might help,” T'Pol managed to explain. The crew had learned that the more expressionless the Vulcan's face, the harder she was trying to control herself.  
“I can go find you a candle to help you meditate,” Trip offered. Abby reached up and held her hand just below the Vulcan's sensitive nose.The Vulcan inhaled sharply and looked at Abby in surprise.  
“Thank you,” she whispered in surprise.  
“ A strong scent can shock your mind out of a mental spiral,” Abby quietly explained. She rose to her feet just as a wail rose up from outside. The group rushed downstairs and into the road to see a woman kneeling outside a house, tearing at her hair in grief. Four men surrounded a stretcher bearing the body of a boy around sixteen. His skin was pale as the nightshirt he wore, making the wounds on his neck stand out sharply. Several precise holes lined his neck. Archer frowned as the sight tugged at a memory. At his side, Abby went still as a statue, barely even drawing breath. Trip was staring at the scene and T'Pol lowered her head, playing the part of a holy woman praying for the dead.  
“Mikka was the third one taken. Why is he the only one we found?” A man nearby muttered.  
“That fella passed through last week, you reckon he's got something to do with this?” another asked.  
“It comes in cycles. A month of losses than nothing for several decades or more. There is nothing we can do,” an old man croaked form his seat on a nearby bench. Abby was at the old man's side before her crewmates realized she had moved.  
“You've seen this before.” It was a statement rather than a question, but the old man answered all the same.  
“Yes, when I was just a boy. My own sister was taken then. My eyes have failed me, but last night I could swear I heard her voice singing in the woods behind the inn. Memories haunt the old, my dear.” The old man's sightless eyes turned in her general direction as he patted at the hand she had rested on his knee. Abby bowed her head briefly and stood. When she turned to the others her expression was grim, a look her companions had never seen in her eyes.  
“Go back to the inn. Stay together in one room and bar the door. I'll knock four times when I come up.” Her voice was low, but with a firm authority that had Trip and Archer moving instantly to obey. T'Pol followed them, but turned back to see Abby marching toward the crowd around the body.

In the room, T'Pol sat on one bed while Trip leaned against the windowsill, the axe at his side. Archer was sitting close to the door, one hand on the hilt of the sword at his belt.  
“Almost feels like one of those old Dracula vids from when we were kids,” Trip finally said. Archer looked over at him.  
“That’s why those wounds seemed so vaguely familiar,” he realized.  
“I am unfamiliar with that name,” T’Pol said. The two men turned to face her properly.  
“It’s a story about a creature called a vampire, an undead person who drinks the blood of the living to sustain itself. Dracula was the most famous of those monsters. Story goes he travels to England and starts seducing and drinking the blood of these young girls but the people around the girls call in a vampire hunter to help them hunt down and kill the vampire. The story has been told and retold over the centuries but that’s the basic premise,” Trip explained.  
“Dracula had roots in actual human history. About twelve hundred years ago, there was a prince called Vlad Dracul who used some very unorthodox methods to protect his country. He gained a reputation as a butcher by impaling his enemies on large wooden stakes. It earned him the name Tepes, the Impaler. He was eventually killed but according to history the body vanished from the crypt, giving life to the story of the vampire Dracula,” Archer continued.  
“And your people turned this legend into a form of entertainment?” T’Pol asked skeptically.  
“It’s one of those human things that’s hard to describe. Tales that scare us, some people enjoy the jolt of adrenaline, knowing logically nothing worse is coming even if our fight or flight instincts are triggered,” Archer tried to explain. Into the silence after the explanation, four sharp raps sounded at the door, making the two humans jump suddenly.  
“Case in point,” Trip quipped as Archer moved to unbolt the door. Abby stepped in and unslung her bow, leaning it against the windowsill.  
“Get some sleep, I’ll keep watch,” she said shortly.  
“Did you find out something?” Trip asked as Abby opened the shutters just enough for her to see outside.  
“The warp core we detected was old right? Contemporary to Chocrane’s prototype maybe?” she asked in lieu of answering, her eyes trained on the square below.  
“Would explain the degraded readings I got if it was using the older lithium style core. Hell, even Enterprise is using dilithium crystals now, and Starfleet is planning the next ships to start out with them,” Trip confirmed.  
“In the morning you should leave. Go back to the Enterprise and wait for my signal. Have Hoshi send a message to my mother. Tell her I found a Rogue and I’ve gone on the Hunt. She’ll know what it means.” Abby was facing the window, the line of her shoulders tense.  
“What are you talking about?” Archer demanded.  
“Who is this Rouge?’ T’Pol asked.  
“Someone I failed to kill a very long time ago. It wasn’t long after that I stepped away from Hunting and joined Starfleet,” Abby replied almost absently, eyes still trained on the town as the shutters were closed and lights extinguished.   
“You’re not really making any sense,” Trip protested.  
“That’s because you only have half the story. The rest has been a closely guarded secret since long before humanity reached the stars,” Abby nearly whispered.  
“I need an explanation Lt. Renault,” Archer snapped, his tone full of command.  
“A vampire is stalking this place, and I aim to kill him!” Abby snarled as she spun around, revealing sharpened eyeteeth. Trip jumped back as Archer instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword.  
“What were you saying about stories?” T’Pol asked pointedly from where she stood closer to the door. Even the Vulcan had moved away from the clear predator in front of her. Abby slumped back against the wall, rubbing at her temples.  
“There are grains of truth in the old stories. We are faster and stronger but so is a Vulcan. We do feed on blood to survive but we don’t need to kill to do it. Holy objects don’t make us cower, running water is for cleaning and a stake through the heart just hurts like hell,” the redhead robotically listed.  
“So how does it work?” Trip asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.  
“What? Becoming a vampire? You don’t die, my heart still beats, my blood still flows. It just, sort of puts your system into overdrive. Everything is more. And you have to drink some blood every day, not a lot, but some. Unfortunately a rare few of our kind get a taste for slaughter. They delight in the fear of their victims. We hunt those down. Humans outnumber us at least a million to one, if they wanted they could wipe us out. I’m sort of a test run. If I can prove I can serve aboard a ship without causing harm, others of my kind may join Starfleet. We would have a chance to see the galaxy as we never could have imagined.” Her face was tilted back, eyes shining with the sort of awestruck wonder that was intimately familiar to her human crewmates. “But something like this? One of my kind using a place like this to live out his sick fantasies? This could destroy any chance my people have of peace.”  
“So we track the guy down, drag him back to face trial,” Archer said, but Abby was already shaking her head.  
“He was found guilty centuries ago. I was one of the Hunters sent to execute him. There were five of us, he killed two before we even realized he was in the room. The other two and I gave chase but he killed them both and almost killed me. It is honestly a miracle I lived. After that we had no sign of him, but there were traces of the specific radiation that comes from a warp core in the area. We had no idea he had built a ship. I suppose we all hoped something went wrong and he was just floating in the space between stars. Please trust me when I say this is not even close to the first time he has committed such a crime.” T’Pol turned her head toward the window and a split second later Abby reached through the gap in the shutters and dragged a figure inside and onto the floor, aiming an arrow at his face in a move almost too fast to see. The man was dressed in a similar fashion to them, with a long leather coat hanging open over his tunic and trousers. He had shoulder length brown hair and a close cropped beard.   
“How in all the Hells can you still get the drop on me?!” he exclaimed, holding up his hands in surrender.  
“What in all the Hells are you doing here? I know this isn’t a sanctioned Hunt, I’m the only one of us acknowledged to be off planet,” Abby snapped inreturn. The man sighed and let his head hit the floor with a thunk.  
“Missed you too, Abi-Simti,” he drawled. Behind them, Trip snickered.  
“Your name is Abi-Simti and you complain about me calling you Abs?” he chortled, easing out of his defensive posture and brushing a hand over T’Pol’s shoulder to signal to the Vulcan it was safe. T’Pol was still tense, the same instincts that allowed Vulcans to survive their coming of age rituals telling her to not calm as long as she was staring down a pair of dangerous predators.  
“It was a code name for less than fifty years. My name is Abigail,” Abby shot back at Trip, the faintest hint of a blush rising to her face.  
“You know this man lieutenant?” T’Pol asked, her voice carefully blank.  
“This is Abat. We used to Hunt together. How did you even get here?” Abby asked the prone vampire.  
“Did a few trades until I got a little ship that could follow old Jack’s trail, and by the way, if you think you are the only one of us in the stars you’re more of a fool than I remember. At least a dozen hid away on Boomer ships just to see what was out here. I got here a year ago but there is some sort of mineral in these mountains that make it damn near impossible to pinpoint his ship. Of course, that also means he doesn’t know I’m here looking for him,” Abat explained.  
“You have always had it out for that bastard but I never thought you would go against the Elders to find him!” Abby exclaimed, lowering her bow and relaxing her stance.  
“Hey!” Archer shouted. “Right now, we need to focus. Now I don’t know about you two, but we need some sleep before we try and track this Jack fellow down. We’ll start fresh in the morning,” he declared.  
“Yes Captain. Abat and I can keep watch, we don’t need a lot of sleep,” Abby replied, back straight. Abat watched all this in amusement.  
“Don’t kill each other,” was Archer’s final order before he, Trip, and T’Pol moved to the other room. The two vampires watched each other for a long moment.  
“You’ve been here a year and couldn’t track him?” Abby asked, fighting a grin. Abat glared for a moment.  
“I landed on the far side of the planet and had to track him down the old fashioned way. Don’t you remember the Elder Hunters bitching about how hard it was to track Rouges ‘back in the old days’?” he snapped without much heat.  
“We didn’t pick up another signal but Jack’s old warp core. Where’s your ship?” Abigail asked. Abat looked away and muttered something below even vampiric hearing. She leveled a flat glare at him.  
“I crashed okay? I got caught in a meteor storm and lost containment, had to eject my warp core. I ended up bailing out over open ocean.”  
“I honestly can’t tell if you are the luckiest or unluckiest vampire I have ever encountered,” Abigail teased.  
“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Abi-Simti,” Abat griped. Abigail growled slightly.   
“Stop calling me that!” she hissed.  
“It’s the name I knew you by as a Hunter, why is it such a problem?”   
“I was lynched under that name and they were smart enough to make sure my neck snapped,” she growled. Abat was instantly on his feet.  
“When?” Abby turned away to watch the moonlit street as memories rose in her mind.  
“I was sent to India to observe the augmented humans that were taking power. The Council wanted to make sure a vampire wasn’t passing themselves off as one. I had a little clinic where I treated women and girls. One of the Augments came in one day. She had been raped by another of the Augments. I treated her and ensured she would not carry her rapist’s child and she left. A week later the leader of the group was at my door, asking questions. I told him I would not speak about a possible patient, Augment or otherwise and to get lost. He left and returned the next day with the woman. She gave me permission to tell him about her treatment. I was about to tell him off for brow beating her into allowing him access to her private information but she explained he was investigating her rape and she was not being pressured. He was very respectful as he asked his questions, never spoke as though she had asked for it, thanked me for my time, and left. I later heard through rumor he had castrated the rapist. After that I would see him occasionally. It was like there was something about me that caught his curiosity, but he never approached me. I was worried I might have slipped up somehow, that he suspected the truth, and began to plan to leave. That was when things took a strange turn. Late one night, he came to my door carrying a small girl in his arms. She was terribly sick, coughing and shaking with fever. He said he had found her in an alley, it looked like she had been cast out for some reason. He stayed with me all night, helping tend to the girl. When her fever finally broke, we were able to learn she had fled her home to avoid being married off to one of her father’s friends. The Augment leader promised to find her a safe home and took her away. The gossip around town said a little girl was stolen in the night and her groom-to-be was found with his guts spilling out behind a notorious gambling den. The Augment began spending time with me in the clinic, asking questions about philosophy and history. It was clear he held a lot of anger within himself and I did my best to help soothe the rage.”  
“Were you lovers?” Abat asked, no judgement in his tone. Sex and sexuality were a bit fluid among vampires, largely dependant on the personal morals of one when they were Turned.  
“Only once. I was walking with him one night and we came to my clinic to find a girl in her late teens lying in front of the door. She had been brutalized and either dumped or dragged herself to my clinic. I worked as hard as I could to repair the damage the poor child had endured, and coaxed the story from her. She had been walking home from a study session that ran late when some of her brother’s friends found her and pulled her into an alley to ‘put her in her place’. The three of them violated her in turns and together, in nearly every orifice. It was all I could do to focus on my work with every new wound I found. When I had finally done all I could, I hypnotized her and got the names of all three men. Then I put her under and went on the Hunt. I was so lost in my fury I didn't even notice the Augment following behind me. He helped me hunt them down and watched as I tore them apart. I relished in their fear and drank from their still beating hearts. The last one screamed in terror, crying out that I was Kali sent to destroy them. That one I dragged a confession from loud enough for half the town to hear before I let his body drop from three stories high. When the last one was dead, I turned to the Augment leader and he simply held out his hand to me. He took me to a small home on the edge of town and cleaned the blood from my face, helped me out of my blood soaked clothes and took me to bed. We made love until almost noon the next day until we were spent. That night, a mob came for us. They bound us in chains and dragged us to a tree where a platform had been erected. I was screaming the whole time to let him go, that I was the one who had killed the men, but they wouldn’t listen. The last thing I heard before my neck snapped was him screaming my name and a gunshot. I woke up a year later and dug myself out of a grave to find the world in chaos. I kept my head down, returned to Paris, and no one has called me Abi-Simti since,” Abby kept her eyes focused on the window as Abat digested her tale.  
“I spent that war in a cell. The South American Augments thought me a spy. When things got really bad toward the end I broke out and hid in the Amazon until First Contact,” he commented.  
“And then came out and rejoined the Hunters?” she guessed.   
“And then I began to track Jackie Blood. I heard about how he escaped the planet, and the Hunters he took out. I’m sorry,” Abat said quietly. Abby closed her eyes, forcing the memory of the four dead Hunters and her own blood spilling down a roof in the pouring rain.  
“We’ll finish him together. If her has to Sleep for decades before he can hunt he must be weaker than I remember.”  
“It could be the core on his ship leaking radiation. We have no real idea how bad shielding on old warp cores could affect us. What about the boy, will he Turn?”  
“No, he’s fully dead. And they cremate their dead so no risk of a previous victim just being in the Sleep.”  
“Think we’ll be lucky enough to save any of them?” Abat asked, moving to stretch out on the bed. Abby began to shake her head and paused, listening.  
“Do you hear that?” she whispered. Abat stood and came close to the window.  
“Whoa. Any stronger and she’d be pulling half the village from their beds,” he said as the wave of hypnotic suggestion hit the pair.  
“Subcommander T’Pol said the people here have a very strong telepathic ability. If Jack turned one, they could amplify the normal hypnotic suggestion we can do,” Abby commented. Abat looked down at her.   
“I’ll go high, you go low. The wind should keep our scent away until it’s too late.”  
“Capture over kill please. We should give her a chance,” Abby said, grabbing her bow. Abat grimaced but nodded, climbing to the roof as Abby jumped to the ground. They met at the far side of the inn near to the forest.  
“Looks like she paused here then went back into the woods,” Abat reported. Abby looked up and cursed at the sight of an open window. She and Abat jumped up into the room to find T’Pol sprawled on the floor with Archer and Tucker nowhere in sight. Abby knelt down to check the other woman over. At the touch of her fingers, the Vulcan’s eyes snapped open.  
“The Captain and Commander Tucker,” she gasped out.  
“We know. One of the native girls was Turned. She drew them out,” Abby soothed.  
“I’ve got the trail. If we hurry we can overtake them,” Abat said from the window. T’Pol pulled herself to her feet.  
“We must hurry,” the Vulcan said.  
“T'Pol you go back to the shuttle and report to the ship. Abat and I can move much faster on our own, I don’t think you can keep pace,” Abby said. T’Pol snarled something in Vulcan before going pale, one hand pressed to her mouth.  
“Well, there’s a new development,” Abat snarked.  
“Climb on my back. We need to move,” Abby ordered. T’Pol did not hesitate and the group was into the trees in a heartbeat, following the trail Abat had found. T’Pol let one finger rest on the exposed skin of Abby’s neck.  
I apologize for my outburst. It was illogical in the extreme, the Vulcan sent. Abby’s mind was well ordered and very shielded, but the vampire sent back a thread of amusement.  
Someone close to your heart is in danger. It is perfectly logical to wish to protect him. Vampires aren’t as skilled as Vulcans at telepathy but even I can sense a bond between you. Here, see? T’Pol felt a gentle brush against a gossamer thread in her mind. The Vulcan stretched her awareness along the thread and nearly lost her grip on Abby at the clouded end thick with hypnotic suggestion.  
Something to address when we are back on the Enterprise, Abby sent as she slowed to a stop behind Abat. They were what appeared to be a fairly large camp with a few armed men guarding the entrance.  
“Thralls, looks like. Something’s off. Jack wouldn’t have mortal thralls guarding him and he wouldn’t settle for a tent, he’d have built a castle by now,” Abat whispered. T’Pol had pulled a tricorder out and was scanning the area.  
“Commander Tucker and Captain Archer are near the center of the encampment. There are six others close to them, three with irregular biosigns. Six guards patrol the perimeter,” T’Pol reported quietly. Abat glanced at the nearby lake and back to Abby with a grin.  
“Let’s do Lady of the Lake,” he said, and Abby groaned.  
“I hate Lady of the Lake, why can’t we do Get Help?”  
“They’re thralled but males always think with their dicks, trust me, Lady of the Lake will work.”  
“It’ll be just your luck if we get the guards who’d rather it was you in the water,” Abby grumbled as she dropped her bow and stripped her clothes off. At T’Pol’s raised eyebrow, Abat explained, riffling through his pack.   
“Vampires are masters of seduction. A release of endorphins and dopamine in the bloodstream makes feeding more enjoyable for both us and our donors. Plus we really enjoy sex a lot,” he pulled a bottle from the bag and took a few gulps before splashing some on his clothes and putting on a hazy, drunken smile.  
“And drunks are dismissed as harmless all the time,” Abby commented before slipping into the water almost silently.  
“Wait for my signal, and get your people out of there. A good slap should wake them up. We’ll take care of the vamps,” Abat directed before staggering out to the shoreline, singing drunkenly in a language T’Pol did not recognize. Two of the guards drew weapons as he approached.  
“Did you see her? The most beautiful redhead, naked as her nameday, bathing in the lake,” Abat gestured drunkenly at the water. The guards barely moved, but then Abby rose from the water, the moonlight making her skin gleam, signing the same melody T’Pol had heard her signing on the ship. The guards ignored Abat to focus on Abby as she stepped from the water with a coy look. In a move too fast for T’Pol to track, Abby had latched onto one guard while Abat grabbed the other. The guards were laid out quickly and Abat handed Abby her clothes.  
“Now what?” Abby asked as she dressed swiftly. Abat shrugged.  
“Walk right in?” he guessed. Abby rolled her eyes but followed Abat to the large camp. Inside they found Archer and Tucker sitting with a pair of glassy eyed girls. Close by on a large nest of blankets and cushions lounged a young looking brunette draped in jewels and nothing else with a teen boy’s head in her lap and his wrist at her mouth. She looked up at the new arrivals.  
“How did you come to be here? Did you feel your goddess’s call and come to worship at my feet?” she asked, blood smeared on her face. Close by, a blonde haired girl was pleasuring another girl with black hair. Both were nude save a necklace or two. The black haired girl was watching the newcomers with interest.  
“We seek another. Pale hair and dark eyes. You would definitely have been his type,” Abat said, eyeing the brunette. She looked down at the boy in her lap.  
“Go and please Tirza sweet one, she’s been working so very hard this night,” she cooed. The boy rolled off her lap and went to the nude pair. The blonde stopped what she was doing and climbed onto the boy while the black haired one began to kiss him.  
“He came from the stars and took me from my hovel. He showed me pleasure I could never have imagined and made me a goddess. But he was a fool. His vessel made him sick and so he slept but I did not. I roamed the countryside growing strong and when I returned, he still slumbered. So I tore off his head and threw it into the sea. When I returned his body had crumbled to dust. Now I pick the choicest of the boys to entertain me and my sweetlings. The girls will have the honor of being my hand picked priestesses, gathering more worshippers for my altar. See the handsome men my Tirza has brought for me? These will not bore me for some time,” she preened.  
“And when they bore you?” Abby asked, ignoring the moans from the trio nearby as the black haired one sat over the boy’s mouth and latched her lips around the blonde’s nipple.  
“I give them to Tirza and Jaella. There are worse ways to die, believe me. I give them a mercy,” the brunette smirked.  
“Heard enough Abby?” Abat asked mildly.  
“More than. Forget capture, they’re Rouges,” she replied. Abat rushed the brunette while Abby tore the girls off their plaything. T’Pol raced into the encampment and grabbed Archer, giving him a shake. He turned hazy eyes at the Vulcan just as she struck him across the face.  
“Get the children while I wake the commander!” she snapped. Archer nodded as T’Pol moved to Tucker’s side. As she reached for his face T’Pol was grabbed from behind and dragged back. She struggled with the man and saw Archer draw the sword he still wore to fend off another pair. T’Pol tried to throw the man off but was briefly overwhelmed by the cloying fog of influence that was exuding from his mind. There was a dull clang and T’Pol went sprawling as the man holding her went limp. She turned to see Trip standing over the man.  
“Hands off the lady,” he snapped at the unconscious guard. He held out a hand and T’Pol gratefully took it, stepping into his arms and breathing in his scent to steady herself.  
Meanwhile, Abby had taken down the blonde girl but the back haired one was giving her a little trouble. She was fighting like a wild animal, but it was all instinct. Abby meanwhile had centuries of control and discipline and shortly separated the girl’s head from her shoulders. A shout of pain drew her attention to Abat. The naked brunette had pulled a dagger from somewhere and stabbed him in the heart. Abby rushed in and twisted one of the necklaces around her throat, dodging the flailing arms and giving a sharp jerk. The group heard a muffled snap and the brunette went lemp. Abby dropped the body and looked to her crewmates.  
“Trip can I borrow that axe?” she asked. Trip silently held it out, one arm still wrapped around T’Pol. Abby looked down, blew a lock of hair from her face, and swung.  
*****  
The shuttle docked with Enterprise with little fanfare a day later. Lt. Reed was waiting along with Dr. Phlox. Captain Archer stepped out first and moved to let Trip help T’Pol out. The Vulcan’s control was still shaky but the engineer’s presence was helping.  
“We’re okay Doc, but Abby’s friend could probably use some looking over,” Trip said.  
“For the last time I do not need to be coddled!” an irritated male voice snapped from the shuttle, followed by a rapid fire argument in French. A moment later Abby appeared with her arm draped around the waist of a handsome man with dark hair and a close cropped beard.  
“Do not believe a word he says Doctor, he is not right as rain,” she said with a frown.  
“Abby I will be fine. It was one little stab!” he protested. Abby did something that made him groan and lean on her a little heavier.  
“Sir?” Lt. Reed asked.  
“I’ll explain everything tomorrow Reed, right now I just want a shower and my bed,” Archer said.  
“Captain you and Commander Tucker should let Dr. Phlox ensure you did not suffer nurel damage from the hypnotic influence. It was very powerful,” T’Pol stated flatly.  
“I am going to insist you all come to Sickbay for a workup,” Dr. Phlox declared. Abby didn’t even argue, simply dragged her companion to the shuttlebay doors.  
“Reed, send a message to Ambassador Renault, ask her to contact us at the earliest convenience concerning a Rouge. She’ll know what it means,” Archer said as he followed Trip and T’Pol out of the bay.  
In Sickbay, Abby helped Abat up onto the biobed, giving him a little push to make him lay flat.  
“He’s like me Doctor,” Abby said. Dr, Phlox spared a glance at Archer.  
“I’m just going to assume doctor patient confidentiality kept you from telling me about my vampire security officer and leave it at that,” Archer said with his hands in the air.  
“I told him if he ever felt I was a danger to the crew he should inform you and incapacitate me without delay,” Abby confirmed. At a slight nod form Archer, Dr. Phlox began his scans.  
“Your nurel functions are slightly inhibited. When is the last time you, I believe Lt. Renault uses the term ‘fed’?” the Denobulan asked.  
“Before I found the lovely Abigail and her crewmates,” Abat drawled, slightly stressing the other vampire’s name. Abby hissed something at him in French but he simply smirked.  
“He was also stabbed in the heart. I had to give him a bit of my own blood to keep him conscious,” Abby reported with a roll of her eyes. Dr. Phlox went to prepare an injection as well as two tumblers that gave off a coppery smell.  
“A quick boost for the both of you, and drink this,” he instructed. Abby made a face but gulped hers down. Abat gagged at the taste but managed to keep his down as well. Seeing the curious looks, Dr. Phlox explained.  
“Synthetic blood apparently has a horrible aftertaste, but it was one of the concessions made when Lt. Renault was placed onboard.”  
“No feeding on any crewmember without full and informed consent, no revealing my true nature unless absolutely necessary, and under no circumstances am I to Turn anyone,” Abby recited in a mild tone. Abat looked over at her and asked something in a language that didn't translate, and she replied in kind.  
“As for the three of you all I can see is a mild case of exhaustion, and…. Hmmm. Subcommander, there is something I would like to discuss with you privately,” the doctor gave the Vulcan a meaningful look. T’Pol was clearly reluctant to let go of Trip, but she did so and followed the doctor to the far side of Sickbay.  
“Showers, sleep, and we’ll meet in the morning in the Captain’s mess for debriefing,” Archer decided. Abat slid off the biobed and Abby wrapped an arm around him again.  
“Come on, you’ll stay with me so I can keep a close eye on you, Casanova,” she remarked.  
“I will have you know I wasn’t anywhere near Italy in that time period, I wasn’t even born then!” Abat protested as she led him down the corridor.


End file.
